Marnhull Acoustic Sessions - Miranda Sykes and Rex Preston

This evening Marnhull Acoustic Sessions celebrated its second birthday with its return for 2015 at the customary venue deep in the north Dorset countryside. Always a gem, it showcases astonishing acts in intimate surroundings and today the treat was Miranda Sykes and Rex Preston.

Miranda Sykes and Rex Preston, Marnhull Acoustic Sessions, 22 February 2015.

The duo is currently part way through an extensive UK tour ending late April, after which they tour with US guitarist Grant Gordy as a trio. That is certainly something that I would like to see and hear live.
If you miss all that they then return to Dorset (as a duo) at the second Behind The Castle Festival at Sherborne Castle on Saturday 13 June.
This is shaping up to be a quite awesome day and Miranda Sykes actually appears twice in different rôles - as above and also as one third of the legend that is Show of Hands, with Phil Beer and Steve Knightley. The *BIG ANNOUNCEMENT*, that of the main stage headline act, is happening this coming Thursday (26 February). Last year The Levellers filled that spot most admirably and this year's act in that slot will not disappoint!

Before Behind The Castle Festival happens Marnhull Acoustic Sessions has another three spring editions:

• 19 April   ---  Blair Dunlop with support from Emma Stevens
• 26 April  ---  Megan Henwood
• 10 May   ---  Annabelle Chvostek (once one of The Wailin' Jennys)

Serious stuff at a venue that seats approximately one hundred.  Just take the first of the three; their ten-date tour includes nine UK cities and Marnhull Acoustic Sessions.

* The Waterboys

Mike Scott and company are confirmed as Behind The Castle 2015 main stage head-liners. Here they are seen at Green Man Festival 2014.

This prompts me to think that I should write more about 2015 festivals. My plans in that regard are near complete. I like the idea of plans and dates that I can work around.
Here is an artist pictured at Behind The Castle 2014 but, as mentioned above appearing at Marnhull Acoustic Sessions.

Megan Henwood releases her second LP 'Head, Heart, Hand' this spring.

Marnhull Acoustic Sessions - Pete Robson & Rodney Branigan

I have just returned from another excellent evening at Marnhull Acoustic Sessions that was arguable made even more special as a result of a minor electrical hitch, of which more later. As I have mentioned before I count myself as truly lucky to live within easy reach of so much good live music of all kinds. For anyone within reasonable travelling distance, if you have been wondering whether to give it a try then I strongly recommend that you do. You get to see and hear artists of national stature, at the very least, in an intimate venue. To whet your appetite Marnhull Acoustic sessions return on 22 February 2015 with Miranda Sykes and Rex Preston headlining with, no doubt, some cracking support.

Support artist this evening was Pete Robson whom I had never seen live before. This saw things get under way with a distinctive acoustic blues slant and a melange of covers and his own compositions. I listen to quite a bit of blues inflected music, although more often of the electric and rock-blues persuasion, so this made an interesting and very welcome change.

Rodney Branigan does things with guitars (or occasionally a mandolin and hand drum) that Health and Safety would advise that you never try at home. He hails from Texas and so, although now resident in Somerset, the rules don't apply in his case. Some of them are not actually dangerous; just both hands to the fret.

During the first half-hour or so of the set there was an intermittent issue with the sound and this resulted in a brief pause to investigate the problem. It was swiftly resolved: the performance would continue front of stage. Sometimes you get more than you bargained for.

We got to hear a couple of OutKast songs played in a folk-roots style unplugged, interspersed with his own compilations, some of which are very much blues influenced and all punctuated with the tricks that he does (only video could really do this justice - the point when he swaps them over without ceasing to play either, in particular).

WTF live - this went from the amazing to the quite astonishing almost by accident.

Live and local - Frome Folk Festival 2012

This is going to be a 'work in progress', quite likely over the next fortnight or more. I once (in 1990 to be precise) swore blind that "I would never write a 'book' again". Some sixteen years later blogging had come along and I fell into the trap;  the rest is the history of what happened thereafter.
This weekend's little place in the history of me goes to the first ever Frome Folk Festival.  The first thing I'm going to say is a huge thank-you to all the people that made it happen - from concept and organisation to the management of all aspects over the weekend and the artists who were willing to subscribe to a start-up. Yes, there were the inevitable niggles of almost any kind you can imagine, but that happens at any festival every time. Everyone is quite entitled to their own perspective but one of my blog philosophies is to concentrate on what I like (it's written down in one of the early posts) and I don't see any reason to change it now.
  
A few of my pictures are in the side-bar already (and I can't wait to see those from the pros!) but here is another one:

 Miranda Sykes, Rex Preston and Damian O'Kane.

Cheese and Grain, Frome Folk Festival, Sunday 19 February 2012.

She recently received a '2012 BBC Radio 2 Folk Award' for this song.

Bella Hardy, 'The Herring Girl', Westway Cinema, Frome Folk Festival.